First, their son Fatih, 15, flew alone to Toronto. Arriving Aug. 31, he enrolled in the Nile Academy, a private school started by Turkish immigrants.

Then in February, Hakan, the 44-year-old father followed.

“We tried to get a visa for Canada,” he said. But he couldn’t get one.

He took a chance at a riskier route. He got to the U.S. and traveled to the North Country of New York State.

Incilay Kircali, an immigrant from Turkey, smiles and collects her luggage after she was told she would be allowed into Canada. Kircali applied for asylum at the Peace Bridge Newcomer Centre in Fort Erie April 13. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News)

A taxi brought him to Roxham Road in Plattsburgh which has become a famous footpath for asylum seekers hoping to walk across the border in Canada.

Hakan Kircali said he was one of a group of three who trudged through a snowy forest for two hours to get across the border.